Maddux Beats Padres Without His Best Stuff

The task for the Padres Sunday was thankless at best. To sweep the series with the Chicago Cubs, they had to beat the winningest pitcher in the National League.

That they failed in their mission was par for the course as far as Cub pitcher Greg Maddux was concerned. Maddux’s 4-2 victory in front of 19,835 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium ran his record at the All-Star break to 15-3.

Consider that Maddux staggered to a 6-14 record as a rookie in 1987. Such a turnaround would seem to defy explanation, but not to Tony Gwynn, who had two of the Padres’ nine hits.

“You know now how he got there,” Gwynn said. “I didn’t face him in Chicago (he shut out the Padres in 10 innings May 11), but I faced him last year, and to tell you the truth, I wasn’t impressed. But now he’s throwing two fastballs, two off-speed pitches and a great changeup. A great changeup.

“The man knows how to pitch. And he’s only, what, 22. He looks like a little kid out on the mound.”

Actually, Maddux doesn’t look over 17. Also, he has a slight built--6-feet and 150 pounds. But he has the all the necessary pitches, great confidence and the poise of a 10-year veteran.

On top of everything else, Maddux knows how to swing a bat. In a lineup considered by many observers the toughest in the league, it was he who drove in the winning run. He broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh with a single off Eric Show, then raced home with the insurance run on an error by shortstop Garry Templeton.

Yes, Maddux can even run. Manager Don Zimmer often uses him as a pinch-runner.

Padre Manager Jack McKeon was somewhat less enthusiastic than Gwynn about Maddux’s performance.

“His stuff wasn’t that good,” McKeon said. “He didn’t have good control. You have to hand it to him, though. He’s a tough son of a gun. We had guys in scoring position (early in the game) and he got us out. That came back to haunt us.”

Check this log of the Padres’ early failures against Maddux:

-- After Gwynn singled in a run in the first inning, matching a prodigious home run by Andre Dawson off Show in the top half, the Padres had runners on first and second with one out. But Keith Moreland lined out and Benito Santiago grounded into a forceout.

-- After Tim Flannery and Templeton began the second with singles, they were bunted to second and third by Show. Marvell Wynne struck out and Roberto Alomar flied out. Wynne, who had been on a roll, was 0 for 5 with three of Maddux’s four strikeouts.

-- After Jim Sundberg gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead with a home run in the third, Gwynn led off the bottom half with a single. John Kruk followed with a walk. But Moreland flied out and Santiago hit into a double play.

-- After Flannery opened the fourth with a single and scored the tying run on Templeton’s double, Show grounded out, Wynne popped out and Alomar flied out.

Having survived all that, Maddux suddenly became almost invincible. The only Padre hits thereafter were singles by Moreland in the fifth and eighth.

Meanwhile, the Cubs broke through in the seventh for the two runs that ended their four-game losing streak.

Angel Salazar, who had replaced Shawon Dunston at shortstop in the fifth after Dunston got into a dugout argument with Zimmer, led off with a single off Show’s glove. Salazar took second on Sundberg’s infield out and scored the tiebreaker on Maddux’s single. After a walk to Dave Martinez, Rafael Palmeiro grounded to Moreland, and when Templeton missed Moreland’s throw, Maddux went home.

Despite his fast finish, Maddux said he never was at his best.

“I was struggling the whole game,” he said. “A game like this is when you feel good about yourself. It’s easy to win when you have your best stuff, but when you struggle and still win, it’s a big plus. That’s what pitching is all about.

“My fastball was high all day, so I had to rely on breaking pitches. That’s the biggest difference from last year--getting my breaking stuff where I want it. That and having better control of myself. I used to get upset when I was in a jam. Now I try to think my way out of it.”

Maddux, whose victory was his ninth in a row and broke a tie with Frank Viola of the Minnesota Twins for the most victories this season, is the first pitcher in 12 years to win as many as 15 games before the All-Star break. The last pitcher to do it was the Padres’ Randy Jones, who had a 16-3 record at this point in 1976 and wound up at 22-14.

Asked if he had a victory goal in mind, Maddux said, “No, I’ve already reached my goals. Whatever happens will be another plus.”

Maddux’s earned-run average is commensurate with his won-lost record at 2.14. And he could easily have 16 victories, because one of his three losses came in a game in which he pitched a three-hit shutout for 10 innings--but was beaten on a bad-hop single in the 11th.

“That was about the only bad break I’ve had all year,” Maddux said. “I’ve been very lucky.” Of his first game-winning hit of the season, Maddux said, “I think it was a slider, but I’m not good at telling what a pitch is. I just swing at the ball and hope it’s hittable. It was more a case of the pitcher hitting my bat than anything I did.”

Maddux is one of six Cubs picked for the All-Star game in Cincinnati Tuesday night. He probably won’t be used because he pitched nine innings Sunday, but, he said, “That’s OK. It’s an honor just to be there.”

Show, whose record fell to 6-9 despite having pitched a complete game, said, “That’s the hardest I’ve been hit all year, I think. The turning point was Salazar’s infield hit. I thought at first that I had it. Maddux hit a first-pitch slider. It wasn’t a bad pitch. I’m surprised he hit it.”

Dawson’s home run, his 15th of the season, was his first off Show since he was hit in the face by one of Show’s pitches in Chicago on July 7 last year.

It came on Dawson’s 34th birthday, and he said it was even more meaningful to him on another count. He made it his personal tribute to Lee Weyer, the veteran National League umpire who died last Monday.

“We played in San Francisco that day, and Lee was at first base,” Dawson said. “I flied out my first time up, and he said to me, ‘Better not get the ball in the air today. The wind is too tough.’

“I respected him tremendously, and that was the last time we talked. I’d like to dedicate that home run to him.”